The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in collaboration with the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) signed an MoU to facilitate cross-border Remittances between the Arab region and Pakistan.
This initiative will establish a framework of cooperation between Buna, the cross-border payment system operated by the Arab Regional Payments Clearing and Settlement Organization “ARPCSO”, owned by AMF, and Raast, Pakistan’s Instant Payment System.
The integration of Raast with Buna aims to facilitate Cross-border Remittances between the Arab region and Pakistan through formal channels. This initiative will benefit individuals as well as businesses not only through instant, safe, and cost-effective cross-border payments, but also by strengthening economic, financial, and investment ties between the Arab countries and Pakistan.
In this regard, a ceremony hosted by the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), H.E Dr. Abdulrahman Bin Abdullah Al Hamidy, Director General Chairman of the Board of the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), and H.E Mr. Jameel Ahmad, Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, signed today a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Abu Dhabi. Commenting on this MoU, Dr. Abdulrahman Bin Abdullah Al Hamidy, Director General Chairman of the Board of The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) and Chairman of the Board of ARPCSO said, He added, “We also aim to increase cross-border remittances by reducing costs and processing times, this initiative confirms the global character of Buna which adheres to the highest compliance standards to connect the Arab region with its main global partners in line with the vision of its founders, their Excellencies in the Council of Central Bank Governors. On this occasion, we would like to thank the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan and his colleagues for their instrumental support of this initiative”.
Speaking at this occasion, SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad said, “This MoU is a significant strategic achievement that opens the door to closer connection between Pakistan and the Arab region. This collaboration between SBP and AMF is in line with our vision to leverage cross-border integrations to complement the objective of building an innovative Digital Financial Services ecosystem”.
He added, “The integration of the two payment systems will increase remittances to Pakistan through formal channels, with enhanced speed, safety, and savings in these cross-border transactions. With over 5 million Pakistanis residing in the Arab region and around 55 percent of Pakistan’s total remittances received from Arab countries, SBP is committed to completing the necessary work and operationalizing the connectivity between Raast and Buna in the shortest possible time”.
Buna and RAAST Buna is the cross-border payment system operated by the Arab Regional Payments Clearing and Settlement Organization “ARPCSO,” which is owned by The Arab Monetary Fund “AMF.”
Buna aims to enable financial institutions and central banks in the Arab region and beyond to send and receive payments in local currencies as well as key international currencies in a safe, cost-effective, risk-controlled, and transparent environment.
SBP ‘Raast’ Instant Payment System is a transformational initiative that is built on the state-of-the-art international standard ISO 20022 and promises to be simple, free, fast, interoperable, and a secure payment option for customers.
The first use case of Raast ‘bulk payments’ went live in 2021 which has been enabling the processing of bulk payments such as dividend disbursements, Government to Person (G2P) payments, mutual funds payments, or private entities’ pay-roll payments by corporates. Going forward, phenomenal growth is anticipated in the P2M segment, designed with state-of-the-art features like ‘request to pay’, easy API integrations, and a QR-based acquiring setup.
Source: Pro Pakistani